Literature
changing leaves
with gold on your fingertips,
you paint the leaves as bright as your bones
now carrying bravery, bright as
the wings on your back, always
abuzz or afloat or alight and never
never backing down - my dear
you are what the tide brought in, a piece
of warm wood, a moment
of sunshine and serendipity and here
we are now, walking the same
bridges of words, of wishing, and you:
elbows painted with garlands, flowering and free
from thorns, soft
strength in the stems alone -
how you grow with the brightness of the leaves,
grow to bury your hands in tall trees,
and carry wisdom tucked into the backs of your knees
- you
step on the snow
and into sof